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Is the Shiva-Linga a phallic symbol?
Primitive sexuality, symbolic anthropology and transgressive sacrality
[This digest is still being compiled and
copy-edited]
This ongoing
(debate on the) hermeneutics of the Shiva-Linga and its (supposed) 'phallic
symbolism'—sparked off by Sathia's post of 5th July 2003 to the Akandabaratam
forum that suggested a resemblance to Mount Kailash—is actually composed of
multiple intertwined threads that I have attempted to distinguish for the sake
of intelligibility by thick blue separator-lines. Most of the
exchanges—particularly among Sathia,
Pathmarajah Nagalingam, K. Loganathan, Ram
Varmha, Paul Kekai Manansala—took place at Akandabaratam, though my (Sunthar's)
forwarding of some of the threads, along with my own responses, to the Abhinava
forum also sustained parallel discussions there that included Steven A. Feite,
Shiva-Linga and phallic worship: Though the aniconic representation of Shiva is rarely perceived to be such by the vast majority of Hindus who worship it regularly in the temples, its genealogy can be traced back to the realistic images of the phallus, often coupled with yoni-rings that have been found in Mohenjodaro.
Tantric sexuality:
Symbolic anthropology: [to be replaced: Hindu tradition is replete with motifs—such as phallus worship, incest, decapitation, patricide, etc.—that have been explained away within the didactics and apologetics of the exoteric tradition as allegories for profound metaphysical insights. Though the analytical categories and tools in contemporary ‘scientific’ discourse for a systematic and comparative hermeneutics of such ‘transgressive’ symbolism are available only in psychoanalysis, the latter is unable to appropriate these striking ‘confirmations’ without imposing a procrustean straitjacket on the Indian materials. The Freudian legacy—its core principles, therapeutic practices, mode of transmission, institutional ethics, scientific status, cultural politics, and the motives of the founder himself—is moreover being subjected to cogent critique, even and especially, from within the Western intellectual tradition. Instead of remaining a mere ‘object’ for Indological appropriation, the Hindu semiotic system—as embodied by the ‘patient’ Ganesha—must be unraveled by reformulating and universalizing its own esoteric traditions in a ‘psychoanalytically informed’ manner.]
Hindu psychoanalysis:
Related threads at svAbhinava:
The Eunuch and the Androgyne
Hermeneutics of Ganesha: Psychoanalysis, Hindu Wisdom and Transgressive Sacrality
What is ‘rationality’? primitivism, philosophy and semiotics
This thread-compilation
will be eventually complemented by others on psychoanalysis and Orientalism; in
the meantime please check out the (incomplete)
[Divinities:Ganesha; Esotericism:Psychoanalysis;
Politics:Orientalism]
Index to threads below on the "Shiva-Linga" controversy:
Is the Linga a Phallus? ask the Kabbalists, Freud and
(sv)Abhinava!
Re: Is the Linga a Phallus? ask the Kabbalists, Freud and
(sv)Abhinava!
Is the snake a phallic symbol? Don't ask Mr. Nâga-lingam!
Re: Is the snake a phallic symbol? Don't ask Mr.
Nâga-lingam!
Linga technicalities from Cambodia
Fw: [agamicpsychology] castration complex
[agamicpsychology] castration complex
Re: Forms of Siva [zizna-devâh - Sumerian derivation? -
SV]
Ardhanarisvara and the Linga-Yoni
Re: Ardhanarisvara and the Linga-Yoni
Re: Fw: Fantasizing of PHALLACY.
Subject:
From: Sathia [Abhinava msg #???? – order of thread reversed]
Date:
To: [Akandabaratam msg #6301]
Dear Friends,
Could the Shiva Lingam be a representation
of
The shape of
Regards,
Sathia
Subject:
From: S. Kalyanaraman
Date:
To: [Akandabaratam msg #6303]
Yes, indeed, Sathia.
S'iva sits in penance on
The metaphor is vivid, emphatic and unambiguous.
So, the finds of s'iva linga in
Kalyanaraman
Subject:
From: Dr. K Loganathan
Date:
To: [Akandabaratam msg #6304]
Dear Dr Kalyan
Thank you for this. I think Siva Lingkam has been
found in many parts of the world and it may an element of the Collective
Unconcious( to use an Jungian concept). It may be already in the depths of the
mind but pulled into consciousness by some encounter with the environment
especially of the sort where there are hills and rivers of the sort for example
the
The Siva Lingkam as Tirmular has analysedd extenssively is the union of Natam and Bindu and which in mantra language is the union of akaaram and ukaaram and shows itself as aNdalingkam piNdalingkam,cataaciava lingkam aathma lingkam and so forth
It is interesting that even in Sumerian literature, the Kes Temple Hymn which I take as a Hymn on Siva called Keeci ( kaaci?), the Sadaiyan we have similar descriptions - mountains and rivers as aspects of Siva
See below. the liines are from Kes temple Hymn of En Hudu Anna ( C. 2200 BC). Line 52 mentions hills ( Kur, kunRu) and rivers (id, id-da, idim-ma Ta. iidu, oodai)
Loga
The Symbols of Civa
The iconographic identity of Civa given in
the following lines seem to be quite unmistakable:
51. e an-se utug-sul ki-se tun-am (
*Ta. el vaanceey udukku cuul kiizceey tuuN
aam (
( utug Ta. udukku: double faced hand drum;
sul Ta. cuula, cuulam: the spear. tun Ta. tuuN: piLLar; also the pillar -like
civalingm? Also note Ta. tuN : to cut asunder)
52. an-se kur-ra-am ki-se idim-ma-am (
*Ta. vaanceey kunRu aam, kiizceey iidimma
aam (
( idim-ma Ta. iidu> oodu, oodai : a
small river with flowing waters.)
The
utug-sul is very certainly the "udukku-cuul " the Tricuul with the
hand drum, an iconographic feature of Civa to this day , one of the forms he is
worshiped in the North and South of India and elsewhere. And this leads us to
think that the 'tun' at the ground level of the temple is the Ta. tuuN but here
the Civalingam, where the term 'lingam' meaning 'symbol" is perhaps not
native to Tamil, a word that perhaps displaced the original "tuuN" a
word still in use (Ta. taaNu) to describe the Civalingam.
Reinforcing this identification is that of
'kur-ra' , Ta. kuNru and "idim-ma" the stream ( *Ta. iidimma>
oodai?) > This word is retained more as metaphor Ta. iidu : a very extensive
commentary, something that flows like a river?. The very extensive commentaries
on Nalaayira Divya Prabantams are called "iidu" perhaps in this
sense.
The KunRu, the Hill, is certainly
relatable conceptually to the " Kailash", the abode of Civa, the
"idim-ma" with the
Subject:
From: Pathmarajah Nagalingam
Date: Thu
To: [Akandabaratam msg #7651]
If I may add to the understanding on this matter.
Lingam in Sanskrit means mark, symbol, representation or icon. Yoni means base, nest, place, place of resting or seat. It is a symbol of Siva placed on a base. That’s all. Correct understanding of the Sanskrit language itself gives a full understanding of the word and meanings.
It is an amorphous (lacking definite form/not human like) icon of Siva representing the unrepresentable transcendent BEING. That’s why its amorphous. Nothing more should be drawn from it. It does not represent creation or regeneration.
It is the icon of the anthropomorphic Nataraja that represents creation, etc. and the immanent BEING, and the personal Lord, as well as the pentapraxis functions of the Lord.
There are other meanings for the linga and yoni too BUT they are incompatible with the subject being discussed. (Just like pasupathi in the context of the Vedas means lord of souls and not 'owner of cattle', as the Vedas does not deal with livestock). Persons who do not (want to) know Sanskrit (deliberately) use